


I Swear To Love You All My Life

by summernbailey



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Club-owner!Magnus, Falling In Love, Fluff, King!Robert, Lady-in-waiting!Clary, M/M, Modern Day, Prince!Alec, Prince!Jace, Princess!Izzy, Probably some angst, Queen!Maryse, also Jonathan doesn't exist in this version, more tags to be added probably, tons of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 21:30:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18903016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summernbailey/pseuds/summernbailey
Summary: After being dragged to a Brooklyn nightclub by his sister, Alec Lightwood meets club-owner Magnus Bane and falls head over heels for him.Only problem is that Alec is actually Prince Alexander Lightwood, next in line to the throne of Anavia, and betrothed to a duchess.But that shouldn't cause any problems, right?(title taken from Hold On by Chord Overstreet)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this fic right after the show ended and finished this first chapter within a week (which is very quick for me, I know it's not for some people)
> 
> I haven't read much of the books, so all character appearances and personalities are based off of the show.
> 
> And I know next to nothing about how actual royal precedings and stuff goes. Anything I know I got from The Princess Diaries, Google, and the few DCOMs about princesses that I saw back when I used to watch DCOMs.
> 
> Also this is only my second fanfiction ever (my first was a Winter Soldier/OC that I didn't finish and cringe anytime I think about it) so please comment on ways I can improve my writing.  
> but be nice tyvm
> 
> Also I'm sure there are other royalty!malec aus, but I didn't read any beforehand so that my writing wouldn't be influenced, so sorrrry if I accidentally stole any of someone else's ideas
> 
>  
> 
> anyway enough rambling you probably didn't read any of this anyway  
> onward to the fic
> 
>  
> 
> •••••••••••••••

"Come on, Alec." Isabelle Lightwood said, dragging her brother by the wrist to hurry him into the elevator.

"Slow down, Izzy." Alec said,attempting to finish putting his jacket on. "Why are you in such a hurry, anyway? And why do I have to go with you?"

"Because!" Izzy pressed the button on the elevator and Alec waited for her to continue.

When she didn't he looked at her, "Because, why?"

" _Because_ we're on vacation and you need to get out and have some fun! And, come on," she continued, "do you really want to stay in the penthouse _alone_ with Clary and Jace?"

"I guess not-"

"Exactly! So we're going to Pandemonium and we're going to have _fun_ , which I know is a term you're not used to-"

He cut her off, "You just want to see that musician you met last month." His words were accusing, but his tone was light, teasing. After returning home from a few days in New York City in August, Izzy hadn't been able to shut up about this guy she had met.

Alec had not met him yet, but the way Izzy's face lit up whenever she mentioned him made Alec feel extremely happy for his little sister.

"His name is _Simon_ and I want you to meet him. You'll love him." She smoothed out her skin-tight minidress as the elevator doors opened into the lobby."Trust me."

Alec headed towards the door, looking back over his shoulder. "You know Mom would kill you if she knew you were going to a nightclub. And wearing _that_."

The doorman pulled open the door for them and they walked through, spotting their car waiting by the curb.

"I know." Izzy said with a grin as she slid into the backseat. "That's why she won't find out."

 

 

••••••••••

 

 

 

As soon as they arrived outside the club, Izzy made a beeline for a guy standing off to the side.

She threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek, leaving a bright red lipstick mark.

"Simon, meet Alec, my brother." she gestured towards Alec. "Alec, meet Simon Lewis."

Simon reached forward to shake Alec's hand, "Hey, Alec, so nice to meet you! Izzy's told me so much about you. Where's Clary and Jace? Are they not coming?" He said all of this in one breath and only realized that he was still shaking Alec's hand when he finished.

"They wanted to have a 'night in'." Izzy told Simon, using air quotes. "Which is code for sex, obviously. You can meet them tomorrow. Why don't you come by the penthouse?"

"Yeah, that-that'd be great!" Simon nodded enthusiastically.

"Great!" Izzy said, taking his hand and leading him towards the club entrance. "I'll text you the address."

Alec followed the pair inside, but quickly lost sight of them when they disappeared into the milling crowd of drunk strangers attempting to dance to the way-too-loud EDM that was playing.

He knew Izzy well enough to know that he most likely wouldn't see her for the rest of the night, so he sighed and headed towards the bar so, at least, he'd have somewhere to sit and a drink to keep him company while he was waiting for his sister.

The bartender was a pretty blonde woman who, when she set the glass down in front of him, winked and said, "It's on the house for you, handsome."

Alec smiled politely and said, "Thank you."

He took a small sip of his martini and inwardly grimaced. He didn't drink very often and never cared much for the taste of alcohol, but he would've felt very odd sitting at a bar with nothing to do, so he attempted to look like he was enjoying himself.

Only a few minutes passed before the bartender walked back over in front of him. "My number's on there." she said, sliding a napkin across the bar."I get off at 10."

She bit her bottom lip right after she said that last part and Alec almost felt sorry for how desperate she seemed.

He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by another voice.

"Could you mix me a drink, Serena? My usual, please."

"Of course, right away."

Alec looked to his right where the other voice had come from and forgot how to breathe for a full three seconds.

The man standing there was - quite literally - breathtaking.

He was wearing a silky burgundy shirt, that had the top few buttons undone, and had layered a few necklaces of different lengths around his neck.

His eyes were rimmed in black eyeliner and Alec only realized that he was staring at them when the stranger spoke again.

"I don't think we've met? I'm Magnus Bane."

Alec regained the ability to speak, "Alec Li-" he almost said his last name, but stopped at the last second.

He was almost positive that this guy wouldn't have heard of him. His country wasn't very big and relatively unknown in America, but he didn't want to take any chances. He knew firsthand how differently someone would treat a person once they found out they were royal.

"um, A-alec. Alexander." he continued. "People call me Alec."

"Pleasure to meet you, Alexander"

"You too."

"Could I buy you a drink?"

"Oh," Alec said, gesturing to his glass. "I have one."

"Doesn't look like you've touched it."

"Yeah, I don't really drink much." he explained, "My sister dragged me here, she's out there-" He waved absentmindedly at the crowd of people. "with her boyfriend. I'm just waiting on her."

"Mind if I wait with you?"

Alec hesitated. He could just say no. _I don't think that would be a good idea,_ he could say, and then there would be no chance of this very attractive stranger getting mixed up in his very complicated life.

"Yeah," he said instead. "yeah, sure."

Magnus sat down at the bar right when Serena came back with his drink. "Here you go, boss."

Alec raised his eyebrows."Boss?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Magnus said. "This is my club."

Alec wasn't surprised. Magnus Bane definitely seemed like the type of person that would own a nightclub, even from Alec's impression of knowing him for only two minutes.

"Hmm." Alec said, taking a sip from his glass. "That's interesting."

"What about you?" Magnus asked. "What do you do for a living?"

 _I'm a prince._

"Just, uh, family business. Nothing interesting."

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true."

_You don't know the half of it._

"Trust me, it is." he lied.

Magnus didn't say anything and Alec could tell that he wanted him to elaborate. He opened his mouth to come up with another lie, but was saved by Izzy walking up.

She threw her arm around Alec's shoulders. "Hey, big brother!" she said, way too loudly."Who's this?" She gestured to Magnus and added, "I'm Isabelle Li-"

"Izzy," Alec interrupted. "are you drunk?"

She thought for a second. "Just a little."

"Where's Simon?"

"I don't know." she said. "I lost him."

"How do you lose him in five minutes?"

"I don't know!" Izzy whined. "I turned around and then he was gone when I turned back."

"I'm sure he'll turn up."

"No, Alec, I need you to come help me find him." Izzy grabbed his hand and tried to pull him along with her.

Alec sighed and turned back to Magnus. "I'm sorry."

"No worries." he said.

Alec stood up and started to follow Izzy into the crowd when he heard Magnus' voice behind him. "Alexander, wait."

He stopped and turned around and Magnus was standing there.

"What?" Alec asked.

"Could I get your number before you go? So we can continue our conversation another time?"

Alec wanted to say yes. He really, _really_ wanted to say yes. But the other voice in his head, the more realistic one, took control this time.

"I don't think that would be...no, I-I'm sorry, no." He turned back and quickly pushed Izzy through the crowd in front of them.

"Who was that?" Izzy stopped long enough to ask.

"Um, just somebody, it doesn't matter." He kept walking past his sister and didn't stop until he got to the other edge of the crowd.

He waited until Izzy caught up and asked, "Why don't you call him?"

"Who?" She looked confused.

" _Simon_."

"Oh, I did. He didn't answer. Who was that guy you were talking to?"

"He owns the club. Where did you last see him?"

She pointed towards the middle of the floor. "Somewhere over that way. What's his name?"

"Magnus Bane. Come on, he might still be over there." He started walking towards where Izzy had pointed, but she grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Why didn't you give him your number?" Her voice was more serious this time.

Alec turned to look at her. "You know why."

"Alec, if you want to go out with him you should. Nobody has to know."

"It's just-" he sighed. "It would be too complicated. I already lied to him about my job, I said I had a family business-"

"Technically that's true." she interrupted.

"I wish it was. It would be so much easier."

"You don't have to do what they ask, you know. "

"Yes, I do. And we both know it."

"Alec, you get to choose how your life is going to go."

"No, I don't. Not when my entire life has been planned out since before I was born. I don't get to choose anything, and I've accepted that."

"Well, un-accept it and go ask him out." She nudged him playfully. "You know you want to."

She was right, of course. He did want to.

"Okay, you win."

She clapped her hands."Yay!"

" _After_ we find your boyfriend."

 

••••••••••

 

It didn't take them long to find Simon; Izzy got a text from himsaying _Where did you go? I'm at the fire exit by the bathrooms,_ and they headed that way.

As soon as Izzy spotted Simon, she turned to her brother and shoved him in the direction of the bar."Now go, get his number."

Alec pushed his way back through the crowd of people, but when he got there Magnus Bane was nowhere to be seen.

Alec felt a twinge of disappointment in his stomach that he quickly pushed away.

 _It's for the best,_ the realistic voice in his head said.

"Alexander?"

He spun around when he heard his name.

"Back so soon?" Magnus smirked.

"Uh, yeah, my sister convinced me that I should give you my number."

"Hmm."

"I mean, if-if you still want it, I-

"Of course I do." Magnus reassured him, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He handed it to Alec, who entered his number and gave it back.

"So were you about to leave or are you going to let me buy you a drink first?" Magnus asked, pocketing his cell.

"No, I'll stay. I don't think Izzy wants to leave now anyway."

They sat at the bar for a while, talking, and somehow, Alec avoided telling Magnus anything about his family. Or much about himself, for that matter.

He learned that Magnus also owned a couple of other nightclubs in Brooklyn, and that he had a cat named Chairman Meow.

He didn't realize how much time had passed until he got a very misspelled text from Izzy asking him if he was ready to go, and he saw that it was after 11.

He wasn't, considering Magnus was right in the middle of a story about the birthday party he had thrown for his cat last year, and Alec was hanging on to every word.

He texted Izzy back _Almost_ , and waited until Magnus finished talking before mentioning that it was getting late.

"Of course, Alexander." was Magnus' reply. "I didn't mean to keep you so long. I hope I wasn't boring you?"

"No-no, of course not." Alec hastily replied. "You're definitely not boring. This was fun."

"The pleasure was all mine."

Alec stood up,"I should go find Izzy."

"I'll call you?" Magnus asked.

Alec smiled and nodded at him before turning the other way.

"Oh, and Alexander?"

He turned back at Magnus' voice."Yeah?"

"Tell Isabelle I said thank you." 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t supposed to take this long for ch 2 to go up, but my brain didn’t want to work correctly and help me write and I was stuck rewriting the same two paragraphs for like a month...so  
> Chapter 3 shouldn’t take this long.....hopefully 
> 
> Also editing this chapter made me realize how many fucking italics I use, like so many
> 
> Anyway hope you enjoy

Alec had always been an early riser and most mornings he liked to go a for a run before the sun came up.

The next morning he definitely _didn't_ want to go for a run at 6 AM, considering he had been up pretty late the night before and was slightly hungover.

He couldn't go back to sleep, though, once he woke up, so he climbed out of bed and threw on some clothes.

He swiped his phone off of the nightstand and checked his notifications, but there wasn't anything interesting.

By _interesting_ , meaning there wasn't a text from the hot guy from the club. Which Alec hadn't been expecting anyway, but he was still slightly disappointed.

He mentally kicked himself for not having gotten Magnus' number. He wasn't at all experienced in the whole flirting thing, considering he had never had any sort of romantic relationship before, and hadn't even thought to ask for it.

Even though, if he had gotten it, he most likely wouldn't have had a clue _what_ to text Magnus, so at least this way he had an excuse.

He sighed and laid back down on top of the comforter, setting his phone on his chest and closing his eyes.

He must have dozed back off, because the next thing he knew he could hear voices coming from the kitchen and the smell of fresh coffee wafting through the closed door.

He picked his phone up from where it had slid onto the bed and checked the time. 7:48.

He got up and headed into the kitchen, where Clary and Jace had already started making breakfast.

"Sleeping Beauty's up!" Jace announced when he spotted him.

"Morning, Alec." Clary greeted him, setting down a plate full of pancakes.

"Morning." Alec sat down at the island across from the stove and motioned to the coffee pot. "Can I get some of that?"

"Sure." Clary grabbed a mug from a cabinet and filled it up, setting it down in front of Alec. "When did you get back last night? You guys were out a while."

"Around midnight." Alec told her. "I guess Izzy's still asleep?"

"She is." Clary said, then added "Breakfast is almost ready. Who wants to wake her up?"

"Not it!" Jace yelled, before Clary even finished speaking.

Alec looked at Clary. "Hey, I cooked." She said, with a grin.

"Fuck both of you." Alec grumbled under his breath, getting up and heading in the direction of Izzy's room.

"What was that?" Jace called after him.

Alec didn't reply, instead he threw his middle finger up over his shoulder, hoping Jace was still looking his way.

Alec loved his sister to death, but she could be straight-up terrifying if you got on her bad side. And the easiest way to do that was by waking her up too early.

Especially if she hadn't gotten enough sleep in the first place.

Alec knocked on her closed bedroom door, "Izzy? You awake?"

He knocked again, this time hearing a half-asleep grumble that he couldn't make out.

"Clary made pancakes."

"Go away, my head hurts!"

"And coffee!"

No answer.

"And aspirin."

At that the door opened up, "Clary _made_ aspirin?"

"No, but we have some. Also, isn't Simon coming over today?"

"Yes, but that's not till noon.” She scowled. “What's your point?"

Alec grinned, motioning to her bed-head and the remnants of last night's makeup that she hadn't removed all the way, "Don't you need time to fix all of _that_?"

"Shut up." Izzy slammed the door in his face.

He laughed. "I was joking, Izzy! Come eat breakfast."

Ten minutes later they were all seated at the island over plates of pancakes and mugs of coffee.

The penthouse had a separate dining room, but they rarely used it when it was just the four of them.

"So," Izzy started, popping a blueberry into her mouth."Did Alec mention the _really_ hot guy he met last night?"

"Izzy!" Alec hissed.

"No, he _didn't_." Jace looked at Alec accusingly.

"Come on, spill!" Clary said.

"There's nothing to tell." Alec lied, leaning his head down over his plate to hide the smile that was creeping up his mouth.

"You talked for two hours! And you got his number. There's _something_ to tell."

"No, _he_ got _my_ number." Alec corrected her.

"What did you guys talk about?" Jace asked, leaning forward as if Alec was going to be sharing a secret with him.

Alec sighed disapprovingly. "You guys aren't going to shut up until I tell you, are you?"

"Nope!" They all three said in unison.

"Okay, I give up. His name is Magnus Bane and he-" He was interrupted by the familiar ringing of his cell. He grabbed it out of his pocket and frowned at the number that he didn't recognize.

He swiped to answer it and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Alexander?"

He broke into a smile when he heard Magnus' voice on the other end.

He also missed what Magnus said next because Jace immediately asked, "Is that him?"

"Hold on one second, Magnus." he said into the phone. "My brother won't _shut_ _up_." He said the last two words while looking pointedly in Jace's direction.

He got up and walked down the hallway, only speaking again when he was safely in his bedroom with the door closed. "I'm sorry about that. What did you say?"

"I just asked if this was a bad time? Should I call back?"

"Um, no, no, this is fine. I was just finishing breakfast." Alec replied, suddenly nervous for some reason.

"I didn't want to call you too early. I wasn't sure what time you got up."

Alec lounged back onto his bed, fixing the pillows so that he was more comfortable."No, this is good. I wake up pretty early."

"Good to know. I called to ask if you would like to go to dinner tonight?"

Alec couldn't hide the smile in his voice when he said, "I'd love to go to dinner."

"Wonderfull! There's this great seafood place I like that's not far from Pandemonium, unless you'd rather go somewhere else?"

"No, that sounds good. Um, what time?"

"8 o'clock? I'll text you the address."

"I'll be there."

"I look forward to seeing you, Alexander."

Alec's stomach did a somersault at the way Magnus said his name. "Me too."

They were quiet for a moment before Magnus said, "Well, I should let you get back to your breakfast."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight."

"See you then. Bye, Alexander."

Alec stayed there on his bed for a couple more minutes after hanging up the phone.

He thought about what Izzy had said. _You don't have to do what they ask, you know._

Could that actually be true?

He had thought about it, of course. Telling his parents that he didn't want to go through with it. Asking them if there was an alternative.

But that's all it had ever been - a thought.

He was terrified to even bring it up to them, not knowing how they would react, but he could guess it wouldn't be good.

Alec shook his head to clear his thoughts and headed back into the kitchen.

Jace, Clary, and Izzy immediately stopped talking and looked his way when he walked in.

"What did he say?" Clary asked excitedly.

Alec waited until he sat back down to answer. "He asked me to dinner. Tonight."

Their reactions were sudden and very loud, and Alec felt simultaneously annoyed and happy at how ecstatic they seemed.

"Why do you guys care so much?" Alec asked after he had answered most of their questions. Or _dodged_ most of their questions and answered three.

Jace threw his arm around Alec's neck. "Because we want you to be happy. Obviously."

"Jace is right, Alec." Izzy said. “I haven't seen you smile like you did when you answered your phone in _months_."

Clary nodded in agreement and Alec felt a swell of gratitude. He didn't need to worry about what his parents would think, he realized.

_This_ is what mattered. Being surrounded by his three best friends in the entire world, who supported and accepted him for who he was.

 

••••••••••

 

Alec looked in the mirror for the third time in ten minutes. He messed with the collar on his shirt and tried to fix his hair a little different.

He didn't notice Izzy leaning against the doorway until she cleared her throat to get his attention.

He jumped at the sound. "Damn it! Izzy, what are you doing?"

She narrowed her eyes at his outfit. "Weren't you wearing a different shirt ten minutes ago?"

"I didn't like it."

"You spent twenty minutes picking it out!"

He ignored her and refocused on his reflection. "I don't like this one either." He got halfway through unbuttoning it before she interrupted him.

"Alec, this shirt is _fine_." She swatted his hands away and buttoned it back up almost all the way. "But I'm leaving these top buttons undone."

He rolled his eyes, but inwardly he agreed with her. About the shirt being fine, not the top button thing.

"You're really nervous, aren't you?"

He shifted his eyes to look at hers. "No?"

"I know you, Alec."

He let out a breath. "Of course I'm nervous. I've never been on a date before. How does it work? What do I talk about?"

"You just tell him stuff about yourself. What did you talk about last night?"

"He mainly talked. About his cat and his job. He owns some other clubs in Brooklyn."

"I'm assuming you never got around to telling him you were a prince?"

Alec looked guilty. "No. Should I?"

"I would. Once you start lying to someone it's going to get easier to lie more, and then you'll be in way over your head."

He knew she was right. "Okay. I'll tell him." he decided.

She smiled. "Perfect, and then just talk about your _very_ interesting life as a prince." She rolled her eyes at _very_ , knowing that being royal wasn't as glamorous and interesting as it was made out to be.

Alec checked his phone screen for the time. 7:12. "I've got to go, Izzy."

She stepped closer to wrap her brother in a hug. "Good luck, Alec. You'll do fine, just be yourself. He'll love you."

"Thanks, Iz."

She pulled back and gave him a serious look. "Also, I'll make sure that Jace is asleep before you come back, so he doesn't give you the third degree."

Alec smiled. "Have I mentioned you're my favorite sibling?"

 

••••••••••

 

Alec paced nervously outside the restaurant and checked his phone for what felt like the twelfth time since he arrived.

Magnus wasn't late - he had said 8:00 and it was ten 'till - just Alec had been twenty minutes early.

He slipped his phone in his back pocket, his face breaking into a smile when he spied Magnus walking towards him.

"Alexander, you look stunning tonight." Magnus said, when he got close enough.

_Shit, what do I say? Good evening, Magnus, you're literally the most beautiful person I've seen in my life. Dial it down, Alec._

"Look who's talking." he said out loud, earning a smile in response.

"I hope you haven't been waiting out here very long?"

Alec shook his head. "A minute or so."

"Well, shall we head inside?"

"Yes, let's." Alec said with a nod.

The restaurant wasn't very big, with dim lighting and a cozy feel. They got a small table near the back and didn't have to wait long for a waiter to come take their orders.

While they waited for their food to come, Alec half-listened to Magnus talk and tried to figure out how to word the _I'm a prince and I don't actually live in this country, I'm just here on vacation. Also I'm kind of engaged, so this can't really turn into anything serious_ conversation.

"Alexander?" Magnus' voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmm? D-did you say someth-I'm sorry. I was listening."

"Is something wrong? You seem distracted."

"No, nothing's wrong...it's just something with my, um, work. It's nothing, I'll pay attention. Sorry."

"If we need to cut this short-"

"No, no, it's fine." Alec gave him a hopefully-convincing smile. "Honest."

Magnus seemed to believe him. "Well, how about you tell me about yourself?"

Alec cleared his throat."Um, my last name's Lightwood. I don't think I mentioned that last night. I have three siblings. "

"What are their names?"

"Jace, Max, and you met Isabelle. Jace is the one that was trying to mess up our phone call this morning. Max is the youngest; he's twelve." Alec swirled the wine in his glass around and took a sip. "What about you?"

Magnus shook his head. "No siblings."

Alec _almost_ told Magnus right then. He got extremely close to saying what he had been thinking minutes earlier, but the waiter returned with their food, and so he didn't.

And then Magnus started talking again and Alec, not wanting to ruin the evening, convinced himself that that conversation wasn't exactly first-date material and pushed it out of his mind.

He focused all his attention on Magnus for the rest of the date and, when it was over, he wasn’t able to remember the last time he had enjoyed spending that much time with a person.

They left the restaurant together and walked the couple of minutes to the nearest subway station.

Alec got off with Magnus at his stop, his reasoning being that he wanted to do the chivalrous thing and walk him to his apartment, but he was actually just really enjoying Magnus’ company and didn’t want to part ways just yet.

“This is me.” Magnus said, stopping in front of a building.

Alec turned to face him, “I had fun tonight.”

“So did I. Would you like to do this again sometime?”

Alec nodded. “I’d love to.”

And then, Alec wasn't quite sure why - maybe it was the way that Magnus was looking at him, or possibly the way that the lights were making the silver glitter around his eyes sparkle and Alec never wanted to look away - but he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Magnus’ lips.

It was an impulse decision, one that - after the fact - Alec couldn’t remember consciously making.

“I’ll text you?’ Magnus asked, smiling softly.

Alec nodded, “I’ll answer.”

“Goodnight, Alexander.”

“ ‘Night, Magnus.” Alec turned and headed back towards the subway, smiling like a love-struck idiot and feeling the happiest he had felt in a long time. 


End file.
